Written and directed by Michael Hurst, Transmission is a surreal, low-budget horror movie starring Vernon Wells, Felissa Rose, Dave Sheridan and Sadie Katz. The film received its world premiere at FrightFest on Saturday 26th August, and is a sort-of horror anthology picture, which utilises multiple vignettes to tell an ongoing story.
In the movie, an old man in the US town of Santa Mira is channel surfing when he comes across a show called Malvolia’s Movie Madness. The show is a film-based series in the style of Elvria’s Movie Macabre, and features a host called Malvolia who introduces a B-movie for audiences to watch.
A few minutes into the movie – a sci-fi horror called Transmission – the man loses interest and switches channels to the local news. Here he sees a news report about a strange murder-suicide in Santa Mira.
After getting the gist of the news story, the man switches back to Transmission. Getting restless again, he continues flipping channels.
As the man jumps back and forth through his television stations, he watches various different programmes. One show is a film-related series about cult horror director, Franklin Tadross Roth – the director behind the movie, Transmission, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
Over the next hour, the man continues to channel surf. But no matter what channel he flips to, he constantly returns to the series about Franklin Tadross Roth, where he learns some worrying details about his life.
Intriguing, fairly innovative, yet sadly flawed, Transmission is an unusual horror film that I really wanted to like, but unfortunately it didn’t quite grab me. On paper Transmission has some good ideas, and to be fair some of these work fairly well on screen, but too many fall short and the picture as a whole struggles to land.
The premise of the unnamed man channel surfing provides the film with an interesting framing device, and the show detailing the mysterious life of Franklin Tadross Roth is decent stuff, but everything else is less appealing. Transmission isn’t a dud, but it doesn’t live up to its potential either, and this is a disappointment.
In an attempt to create something different (which is admirable), the film throws too much at the screen and after a while it struggles to sustain its story. A couple of the channel surfing sequences are also a bit irritating, and some sequences in particular fall flat and merely highlight the production’s tight budget.
To be clear, I’m not knocking the film because of its budget, because Transmission clearly attempts quite a lot and pulls some of it off with very little money. However, some sequences do look ropey and this is a shame.
Because Transmission constantly switches back and forth from one sequence to the next, it means one minute you are watching something which is visually appealing, while the next you are seeing something which looks like it was filmed in someone’s backyard. This creates a mixed bag of visuals (and acting abilities) and this interrupts the flow of the film.
I don’t want to be too harsh on Transmission, as all the way through the movie I could see writer/director Michael Hurst circling something good, but for me, Transmission misses its target. It’s clear Hurst spent a great deal of time constructing this movie, and this doesn’t go unnoticed, it’s just a shame then that something feels off.
While I liked the premise of Transmission and it gets recognition for its enthusiasm, it’s not something I can say I particularly warmed to. Possibly one for die-hard horror enthusiasts only.
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